Another snowless week in January left a few us adventuring for options. Dr Dan Hehir and I headed over to Ouray for some ice climbing (see map above) and discovered some really fun routes on which to play and practice.

Saturday was going to be another ice day but the following SAR call came in and it was one of the more heart-breaking missions in awhile:

http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2010/01/18/news/doc4b53785466cae917316459.txt#comment

On Sunday, we got a fun group of fellas together to tour the high country with visiting ski buddy, Mark Lesh, from Skiing Magazine. With a little creativity, we were actually able to find some fresh tracks and some pretty good recycled powder skiing.

Off to OR on Wednesday and so will report back next week when our Backcountry.com clan gathers in Telluride for a photo shoot with the great ski photog magnate, Lee Cohen.